Shedding Some Light on DIM

Rate increases have become commonplace in the shipping industry—somewhat of an expected change every year.

But these changes aren’t just percent increases.

Big shipping companies add a superfluity of extra fees—often called accessorial fees, and while a lot of these charges have come to light in recent years, there is one addition that many people do not pay attention to, and it may be costing them considerably more than the advertised rate increase.

It’s simply called: DIM.

What is DIM? DIM stands for dimensional weight. Essentially, a shipper will multiply the length, width, and height of a box, and divide it by the DIM Factor, to determine its shipping “weight”.

According to Jerry Hempstead of Hempstead Consulting, even though the tariff rate increase for UPS and FedEx was 5.9%, because of DIM weighting, rates for ground parcels (1-20lbs) shipped all over the country are likely to see a 7.5% increase. Because of this, in some cases, the increase could be nearly 9%.

With OnTrac, not only will you see fewer (and lower) accessorials, you get a higher DIM Divisor—meaning you can ship more for less. Check our rate comparison!

To read more about dimensional weighting and its impact on your shipping bill, click here for the article from DC Velocity.

Subscribe to The OnTrac Blog

About OnTrac

OnTrac is the premier regional package delivery company in the 8 Western States. With overnight delivery at Ground rates to more than 60 million consumers, OnTrac can save you time in transit and boost your bottom line.